Volunteer of the Month
Archives

September 2018
Ed & Vivian Foster

Photo of Ed & Vivian Foster

This month we don’t just have one Volunteer to show kudos upon, we have two! Ed & Vivian Foster are our newest Thrift Store volunteers. They actually came to us thanks to Vivian who was a member. Once they retired following twenty-five years of retail experience, Vivian told Ed that they should help us out at the Thrift Store. That was all it took. They first started out by bringing in store shelves and then by arranging the stock. Now they work 1-2 days a week moving the items from our center to your house. Ed was originally from Fort Huron, Michigan, and came west to Long Beach thanks to the navy. It was fate that the two met at the Central City Mall (the Carousel mall to you youngsters) where they both worked, each taking turns as the other’s supervisor at various stores. They worked so well together they ended up with six kids, fifteen grandkids, and eight great-grandkids! Thanks to Ed & Vivian for arranging our store and for arranging your time to help us out.

Featured Class

Watercolor
Date: September 11, 2018
Time: 9:00 - 11:00 AM
Length: 8 weeks
Cost: $8 members
      $8 non-members
Instructor: Avon Hall
Location: Game Room
Description: Not only is this one of our oldest classes, but is also one of the oldest art forms going back to paleolithic times. Watercolor is a painting method in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-based solution. Watercolor refers to both the medium and the resulting artwork. Working with watercolors is difficult because with paint, it stays put. However, with watercolor, the paper and absorption changes the outline and appearance as it dries. Additionally, you have to be careful as colors can run into each other as they are absorbed, changing the shape and color of objects. If you mess up with paint you can paint over or scrape off the paint but in watercolor you might be able to partially correct a mistake by re-wetting and blotting making errors costly. To help you with this is Avon Hall, our Watercolor instructor. While Avon has no formal instruction as an art teacher, but does have lots of experience in art. While in the Air Force, and stationed in France 50 years ago, he took some art classes in oil painting and drawing. He did not take up watercolor until eight years ago, when he heard that we had a class and he was curious about it. Avon has won several prizes for his art, and has even sold some.

Featured Activity

Bunco
Time: Fridays 1:00 pm
Cost: $3 Buy-In members
       non-members
Location: Sun Room
Description: If you're ever here at the Center on a Friday, don't be surprised if you here a bunch of noise coming from the Parlor. Especially if it's yelling, laughing, and bell ringing! It's all just a part of the social game of Bunco. Strictly speaking, bunco is a game of dice, played in rounds. Players take turns rolling the dice and trying to accumulate as many points as possible to win each round. The game is played at tables of four in competing teams of two. Players score points by rolling three dice and trying to match the number they're supposed to roll for that round. They get a point for each die that rolls the number, and if all three roll the number they score 21 points. They also score 5 points for rolling three of a kind of any other number. They get to keep rolling as long as they score one or more points with each roll. Once they fail to score they pass the dice to their left and the opposing team gets a chance to score. During each round the teams at the Head Table try to score 21 points. The first team to score 21 points wins the round and play stops. At all other tables play stops when the Head Table play stops and the team with the highest score at each lower table wins the round. At the end of the round players change seats, the winners at each of the lower tables move up a table, and the losers at the head table move to the lowest table. Players also switch partners at the end of the round, so you never play with the same partner twice in a row. During play, players track the number of rounds they win and lose as a team, and the number of Buncos scored individually, on their personal scorecard. At the end of the night wins/losses and Buncos are tallied. So if having fun sounds fun to you, join the bunco crew every Friday in the Sun Room from 1:00 to 3:00.
Operation Senior Claus 2011
By: Mike Sylva
(Christmas) is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ~Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book



For those who have read Washington Irving’s ‘Old Christmas,’ you can appreciate the impact he had on bringing the idyllic English Christmas stateside. He is also credited by Charles Dickens as an influence on his own Christmas writings, including the classic A Christmas Carol. Both works seek to bring back the idea of hospitality. Something we could use in this commercialized Christmas era.

One way you can help with this is to remember that in this “season of giving”, it’s not always the amount of presents, or giving for giving’s sake. It’s giving to make a difference to someone. Presents don’t have to be big or expensive. Sometimes the smallest thing can make the biggest difference in someone’s life. For some seniors it only takes 1 can of food, or $10 gift card to brighten the holidays of a senior this Christmas.

Operation Senior Claus is now coming to the home stretch and we need you to make it a success for us, but also a Merry Christmas for our seniors. We are hoping to help out over 100 seniors this years, but we need your help. We will be preparing Christmas dinners (turkey and all the trimmings), and little gift baskets for some worthy seniors. To do this we are still in need of money donations, gift cards to food markets, as well as hygiene products (i.e. toothbrushes, shampoo).

So please think about helping out those less fortunate and take the words of Ruth Cater Stapleton to heart. “Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.”